Santa Prisca is a titular church of Rome, on the Aventine Hill, for Cardinal-priests. It is recorded as the Titulus Priscae in the acts of the 499 synod.ChurchIt is devoted to Saint Prisca, a 1st-century martyr, whose relics are contained in the altar in the crypt. It was built in the 4th or 5th century over a temple of Mithras.Damaged in the Norman Sack of Rome, the church was restored several times. The current aspect is due to the 1660 restoration, which included a new facade by Carlo Lombardi.In the interior, the columns are the only visible remains of the ancient church. Also a baptismal font allegedly used by Saint Peter is conserved. The frescoes in the crypt, where an altar contains the relics of Saint Prisca, are by Antonio Tempesta. Anastasio Fontebuoni frescoed the walls of the nave with Saints and angels with the instruments of passion. In the sacristy hangs a painting of the Immaculate conception with angels by Giovanni Odazzi, and on the main altar a Baptism of Santa Prisca by Domenico Passignano.

The Church of St. Mary of the Priory (Chiesa di Santa Maria del Priorato), can also be known by its previous name of St. Mary on the Aventine (Santa Maria in Aventino). It is the monastery church of the Priory of the Knights of Malta on the Aventine Hill in Rome, and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.The original church was built in 939, when Odo of Cluny was given the Roman palace of Alberic II of Spoleto, which was then converted into a Cluniac Benedictine monastery. When the monastery was dissolved in the 14th-century, the site was acquired by the Knights of Malta, and, under them, the church was rebuilt in the 1550s.In 1760, the papal nephew and Grand Prior of the Knights, Cardinal Giambattista Rezzonico, sought to improve the appearance of the buildings. On a limited budget, the church was substantially renovated between 1764-66 according to the designs of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who also built the piazza in front of the church, the Piazza dei Cavaliere di Malta. The fairly low wall around the piazza is articulated by panels with paired obelisks with stelae positioned in between them.

The Ospizio di San Michele a Ripa Grande or Ospizio Apostolico di San Michele in Rome is represented today by a series of buildings in the south end of the Rione Trastevere, facing the Tiber River and extending from the bank of Ponte Sublicio for nearly 500 meters. It stands across the river from the Rione Ripa and the area known as the Porto di Ripetta, once in the Aventine neighborhood of Rome. The Porto di Ripa Grande was the river port that served those coming up from the Mediterranean port of Ostia. This area was once a main port of Rome. While large seafaring ships could not forge easily up the Tiber river to Rome; smaller boats frequently brought supplies in from the up to the city and disembarked their wares here.HistoryThe buildings of the Ospizio di San Michele were built during the 17th and 18th centuries and served a number of purposes including an orphanage, a hospice for abandoned elderly, and jails for minors and women. In 1679, a nephew of the new Pope Innocent XI (reigned 1676 -1689), Monsignor Carlo Tommaso Odescalchi commissioned architect Mattia de Rossi to design, and within five years had built an hospice to house and train orphan children to manufacture of woven carpets and tapestries. To this building were added in 1693, the Ospizio dei Poveri Inabilito (disabled poor), and in 1709, Pope Clement XI commissioned the architect Carlo Fontana to extend the complex even further and transferred the elderly residents here from the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, located in the Via Giulia. Later additions to the building were the prison for minors and an art school. In 1735, Pope Clement XII commissioned architect Ferdinando Fuga to design a woman’s prison and a barracks for customs officers.

The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire. It measured 621 m in length and 118 m in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators. In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. The site is now a public park.Events and usesThe Circus was Rome's largest venue for ludi, public games connected to Roman religious festivals. Ludi were sponsored by leading Romans or the Roman state for the benefit of the Roman people (populus Romanus) and gods. Most were held annually or at annual intervals on the Roman calendar. Others might be given to fulfill a religious vow, such as the games in celebration of a triumph. The earliest known triumph ludi at the Circus were vowed by Tarquin the Proud to Jupiter in the late Regal era for his victory over Pometia.

Sant'Anastasia is a basilica and titular church in for cardinal-priests in Rome, Italy.BasilicaSant'Anastasia was built in the late 3rd century - early 4th century, possibly by a Roman woman named Anastasia. The church is listed under the titulus Anastasiae in the acts of the 499 synod. Later the church was entitled to the martyr with the same name, Anastasia of Sirmium.The church was restored several times: Pope Damasus I (366-383), Pope Hilarius (461-468), Pope John VII (705-707), Pope Leo III (795-816), and Pope Gregory IV (827-844). The current church dates back to the 17th century restoration commissioned by Pope Urban VII.Traditionally, the church is connected to the cult of St Jerome, who possibly celebrated mass here. The saint is depicted over the altar, by Domenichino.Art and architectureThe last restoration, after the restoration during the papacy of Sixtus IV, occurred in 1636, when the facade, with lower doric and upper ionic order, was reconstructed in 1636, after the cyclone of 1634. The nave recycles antique columns. The ceiling is frescoed with a martyrdom of the saints (1722) by Michelangelo Cerruti.

The Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Olivarius is a Roman temple in Piazza Bocca della Verità, in the area of the Forum Boarium close to the Tiber in Rome. It is a monopteros, a round temple of Greek 'peripteral' design completely encircled by a colonnade. This layout caused it to be mistaken for a temple of Vesta until it was correctly identified by Napoleon's Prefect of Rome, Camille de Tournon. Despite the Forum Boarium's role as the cattle-market for ancient Rome, the Temple of Hercules is the subject of a folk belief claiming that neither flies nor dogs will enter the holy place.DescriptionDating from the later 2nd century BC, and perhaps erected by L. Mummius Achaicus, conqueror of the Achaeans and destroyer of Corinth, the temple is 14.8 m in diameter and consists of a circular cella within a concentric ring of twenty Corinthian columns 10.66 m tall, resting on a tuff foundation. These elements supported an architrave and roof, which have disappeared. The original wall of the cella, built of travertine and marble blocks, and nineteen of the originally twenty columns remain but the current tile roof was added later. Palladio's published reconstruction suggested a dome, though this was apparently erroneous. The temple is the earliest surviving marble building in Rome.

The Forum Boarium was the cattle forum venalium of Ancient Rome. It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Rome (Portus Tiberinus), the Forum Boarium experienced intense commercial activity.The Forum Boarium was the site of the first gladiatorial contest at Rome which took place in 264 BC as part of aristocratic funerary ritual—a munus or funeral gift for the dead. Marcus and Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva put on a gladiatorial combat in honor of their deceased father with three pairs of gladiators.The site was also a religious center housing the Temple of Hercules Victor, the Temple of Portunus (Temple of Fortuna Virilis), and the massive 6th or 5th century BC Great Altar of Hercules.ArchitectureThe Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Olivarius (Hercules as protector of the olive trade), is a circular peristyle building dating from the 2nd century BC. It consists of a colonnade of Corinthian columns arranged in a concentric ring around the cylindrical cella, resting on a tuff foundation. These elements originally supported an architrave and roof which have disappeared. It is the earliest surviving marble building in Rome. For centuries, this was known as the Temple of Vesta.

The church of Santa Maria della Luce is an ancient church in the Rione of Trastevere in Rome, Italy.The church was originally known as San Salvatore in Corte. That church was founded by Saint Bonosa in the 4th century at the site of the excubitorium or barracks of the "cohort VII Brigade". The church was rebuilt in the 12th century, together with bell-tower, which is still preserved. In 1595, the church was placed under the jurisdiction of the nearby Basilica of San Crisogono. In 1728, a Pope Benedict XIII assigned the church to the Minims, an order established by St. Francis of Paola.The current name of the church dates from 1730, when a series of miracles were linked to an icon painted on the exterior of a nearby house nearby, which was seen to emit light. The image was then transferred to the Church, and changed name. The church interior underwent reconstruction by architect Gabriele Valvassori, though the facade remained unfinished. The apse, even after Baroque restoration, still shows signs of the original Romanesque architecture. The apse is frescoed with The Eternal Father by Stefano Conca.The chapel of St Joseph on the right has an altarpiece depicting the Death of St Joseph (1754) by Giovanni Conso (painter). The chapel of St Francis of Paola is on the left, and has an altarpiece depicting Saints Francis de Sales and John of Valois by Stefano Conca. The chapel on the right dedicated to Saints Joachim and Anne has an altarpiece depicting the Family of the Virgin (1753) by Pietro Labruzzi. Other chapels have modern artworks mostly showing Latin American devotions. There is also an painting by Onofrio Avellino depicting Miracle of St Francis of Paola walking across the Straits of Messina(1700).

The Tiber Island is the only island in the Tiber river which runs through Rome. Tiber island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber.The island is boat-shaped, approximately 270m long and 67m wide, and has been connected with bridges to both sides of the river since antiquity. Being a seat of the ancient temple of Asclepius and later a hospital, the island is associated with medicine and healing.HistoryThe island has been linked to the rest of Rome by two bridges since antiquity, and was once called Insula Inter-Duos-Pontes which means "the island between the two bridges". The Ponte Fabricio, the only original bridge in Rome, connects the island from the northeast to the Field of Mars in the rione Sant'Angelo (left bank). The Ponte Cestio, of which only some original parts survived, connects the island to Trastevere on the south (right bank).There is a legend which says that after the fall of the hated tyrant Tarquinius Superbus (510 BC), the angry Romans threw his body into the Tiber. His body then settled onto the bottom where dirt and silt accumulated around it and eventually formed Tiber Island. Another version of the legend says that the people gathered up the wheat and grain of their despised ruler and threw it into the Tiber, where it eventually became the foundation of the island.

The Temple of Venus and Roma Latin: Templum Veneris et Romae is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix ("Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune") and Roma Aeterna ("Eternal Rome"). The architect was the emperor Hadrian and construction began in 121. It was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, and finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius. Damaged by fire in 307, it was restored with alterations by the emperor Maxentius.HistoryIn order to build the temple, erected on the remnants of the porticoed vestibule to Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea, the Colossus of Nero was moved and placed near the amphitheatre, which shortly afterwards became known as the Colosseum. Unimpressed by his emperor's architectural skills, Hadrian's most brilliant architect, Apollodorus, made a scornful remark on the size of the seated statues within the cellae, saying that they would surely hurt their heads if they tried to stand up from their thrones. Apollodorus was banished and executed not long after this.

The Theatre of Marcellus is an ancient open-air theatre in Rome, Italy, built in the closing years of the Roman Republic. At the theatre, locals and visitors alike were able to watch performances of drama and song. Today its ancient edifice in the rione of Sant'Angelo, Rome, once again provides one of the city's many popular spectacles or tourist sites. Space for the theatre was cleared by Julius Caesar, who was murdered before its construction could begin; the theatre was so far advanced by 17 BC that part of the celebration of the ludi saeculares took place within the theatre; it was completed in 13 BC and formally inaugurated in 12 BC by Augustus.The theatre was 111 m in diameter and was the largest and most important theatre in Ancient Rome; it could originally hold between 11,000 and 20,000 spectators. It was an impressive example of what was to become one of the most pervasive urban architectural forms of the Roman world. The theatre was built mainly of tuff, and concrete faced with stones in the pattern known as opus reticulatum, completely sheathed in white travertine. However, it is also the earliest dateable building in Rome to make use of fired Roman brick, then a new introduction from the Greek world.

The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome, Ghetto di Roma, was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus. With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798-99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870.

The Porticus Octaviae is an ancient structure in Rome.The structure was built by Augustus in the name of his sister, Octavia Minor, sometime after 27 BC, in place of the Porticus Metelli. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, next to the Theater of Marcellus. It burned in 80 AD and was restored, probably by Domitian, and again after a second fire in 203 AD by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It was adorned with foreign marble and contained many famous works of art, enumerated in Pliny's Natural History. The structure was damaged by an earthquake in 442 AD, when two of the destroyed columns were replaced with an archway which still stands. The church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria was built in the ruins circa 770 AD.Besides the pre-existing temples, the enclosure included a library erected by Octavia in memory of her son Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the curia Octaviae, and a schola. Whether these were different parts of one building, or entirely different structures, is uncertain. It was probably in the curia that the senate is recorded as meeting. The whole is referred to by Pliny the Elder as Octaviae opera.

The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. It was the citadel (equivalent of the ancient Greek acropolis) of the earliest Romans. The name capitol seems to have meant "dominant height", although ancient tradition places its origin in caput ("skull": a specific skull found while laying the Temple of Jupiter foundation). By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium, one of the three major spurs of the Capitolinus (the others being Arx and Tarpeius). The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palaces (now housing the Capitoline Museums) that surround a piazza, a significant urban plan designed by Michelangelo.The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. is widely assumed to be named after the Capitoline Hill, but the causation is not crystal clear.

The Basilica of St. Stephen in the Round on the Celian Hill (Basilica di Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, Basilica S. Stephani in Caelio Monte) is an ancient basilica and titular church in Rome, Italy. Commonly named Santo Stefano Rotondo, the church is Hungary's "national church" in Rome, dedicated to both Saint Stephen, the Christian first martyr, and Stephen I, the sanctified first king of Hungary who imposed Christianity on his subjects. The minor basilica is also the rectory church of the Pontifical Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum., the Cardinal Priest or titular S. Stephano is Friedrich Wetter.HistoryThe earliest church was consecrated by Pope Simplicius between 468 and 483. It was dedicated to the protomartyr Saint Stephen, whose body had been discovered a few decades before in the Holy Land, and brought to Rome. The church was the first in Rome to have a circular plan, inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Saint Stefano was probably financed by the wealthy Valerius family, whose estates covered large parts of the Caelian Hill. Their villa stood nearby, on the site of the present-day Hospital of San Giovanni - Addolorata. Saint Melania the Elder, a member of the family, was a frequent pilgrim to Jerusalem and died there, so the family had connections to the Holy Land.

The Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Olivarius is a Roman temple in Piazza Bocca della Verità, in the area of the Forum Boarium close to the Tiber in Rome. It is a monopteros, a round temple of Greek 'peripteral' design completely encircled by a colonnade. This layout caused it to be mistaken for a temple of Vesta until it was correctly identified by Napoleon's Prefect of Rome, Camille de Tournon. Despite the Forum Boarium's role as the cattle-market for ancient Rome, the Temple of Hercules is the subject of a folk belief claiming that neither flies nor dogs will enter the holy place.DescriptionDating from the later 2nd century BC, and perhaps erected by L. Mummius Achaicus, conqueror of the Achaeans and destroyer of Corinth, the temple is 14.8 m in diameter and consists of a circular cella within a concentric ring of twenty Corinthian columns 10.66 m tall, resting on a tuff foundation. These elements supported an architrave and roof, which have disappeared. The original wall of the cella, built of travertine and marble blocks, and nineteen of the originally twenty columns remain but the current tile roof was added later. Palladio's published reconstruction suggested a dome, though this was apparently erroneous. The temple is the earliest surviving marble building in Rome.

Ponte Palatino, also known as Ponte Inglese, is a bridge that links Lungotevere Aventino to Lungotevere Ripa in Rome, in the Rioni Ripa and Trastevere.DescriptionThe bridge was designed by architect Angelo Vescovali and built between 1886 and 1890 in place of the partially destroyed, 2,200-year-old Pons Aemilius (also called Ponte Rotto, "Broken Bridge"). One arch of the ancient three-arch bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1598, while another arch was demolished by Vescovali in 1887 to make room for the Ponte Palatino, thus leaving the Pons Aemilius just a single arch in mid-river, situated adjacent to the modern bridge.Ponte Palatino takes its name from the Palatine Hill, at whose slopes the structure rises. The bridge links the Forum Boarium to Piazza Castellani, in front of the Tiber Island; the epithet English is due to the left-hand traffic flow that applies on it, just as in the United Kingdom.It shows five masonry piers with a metal top surface and is 155m long.

The white marble Arch of Septimius Severus at the northwest end of the Roman Forum is a triumphal arch dedicated in AD 203 to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194/195 and 197-199.After the death of Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta were initially joint emperors. Caracalla had Geta assassinated in 212; Geta's memorials were destroyed and all images or mentions of him were removed from public buildings and monuments. Accordingly, Geta's image and inscriptions referring to him were removed from the arch.DescriptionThe arch was raised on a travertine base originally approached by steps from the Forum's ancient level. The central archway, spanned by a richly coffered semicircular vault, has lateral openings to each side archway, a feature copied in many Early Modern triumphal arches. The Arch is about 23 metres in height, 25 metres in width and 11.85 metres deep.The three archways rest on piers, in front of which are detached composite columns on pedestals. Winged Victories are carved in relief in the spandrels. A staircase in the south pier leads to the top of the monument, on which were statues of the emperor and his two sons in a four-horse chariot, accompanied by soldiers.

The Accademia dei Lincei is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy.Founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi, it was one of the first academies of science to exist in Italy as a locus for the incipient scientific revolution. The academy was named after the lynx, an animal whose sharp vision symbolizes the observational prowess that science requires. "The Lincei did not long survive the death in 1630 of Cesi, its founder and patron", and "disappeared in 1651". It was revived in the 1870s to become the national academy of Italy, encompassing both literature and science among its concerns.The Pontifical Academy of Science also claims a heritage descending from the first two incarnations of the Academy, by way of the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei , founded in 1847.

The Forum of Augustus is one of the Imperial forums of Rome, Italy, built by Augustus. It includes the Temple of Mars Ultor. This landmark was built in 42 BCE.HistoryThe triumvir Octavian vowed to build a temple honoring Mars, the Roman God of War, during the battle of Philippi in 42 BC. After winning the battle, with the help of Mark Antony and Lepidus, Octavian had avenged the assassination (murder) of his adoptive father Julius Caesar. He became the Princeps of Rome in 27 BC under the name Augustus, and planned for the temple to be built in a new forum named after himself. Augustus used social propaganda by continuing Julius Caesar's will to create a Temple to Mars Ultor "greater than any in existence", by placing it within the Temple, linking himself to his divine adopted father, obtaining a strong link to the Roman population through their love for the deceased dictator.The land the Forum was to be built on was already owned by Augustus himself. However, the initial plans called for more space than he had. In order to keep those on the land he would need to purchase to build upon, the plans were altered slightly, so some asymmetry is apparent, especially in the Eastern corner of the precinct; for which Suetonius states that Augustus did not want to take the houses of the nearby owners by force. This self-proclaimed good deed was more than likely just a ploy to save Augustus money and trouble. These land issues, as well as numerous architectural mishaps, prolonged construction. The incomplete forum and its temple were inaugurated, 40 years after they were first vowed, in 2 BC. In 19 AD Tiberius added two triumphal arches either side of the temple in honour of Drusus the Elder and Germanicus and their victories in Germania.